With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

I'm about half way through it and so far it's pretty damned good. It's about a man and his boy making their way through a landscape scorched by nuclear war. I admit, I find the whole thing rather depressing but McCarthy's prose is brilliant, austere and devoid of any sentimentality. I keep thinking that everyday we live in our current world with our soft, clean beds, warm homes and endless selection of delicious food is a blessing. I have known for some time that we live better than any of our antecedents, perhaps this hour - this day may turn out to be the pinnacle of our expression. That's the good news, the bad news is that McCarthy's hellish vision is not that inconceivable.

2 comments:

Anonymous
said...

That is the most frigtening aspect of the book. IF the shit hits the fan I believe it will go down like Cormac portrays it. NY TImes sunday Book review had The Road as cover story and they dropped the news that Mccarthy may have several drafts of more books laying around and not to be surprised if they come out sooner than later.

We were in a bookstore in Madison last week and I thumbed through it. Yep, looked mighty depressing which doesn't mean I won't be reading it sometime soon - just not right now. I picked up a copy of "Cold Mountain" instead. (Funds were tight and the Frazier book was in paperback... You know the drill.)

McCarthy is my favorite living writer but so far I'm very much taken with Frazier's story.